Despite the Bihar chief secretary’s probe into the alleged industrial land “scam” resulting in exoneration of the ruling NDA politicians and bureaucrats who figured in the Opposition parties’ list of beneficiaries, the controversy shows little signs of fading and looks set to land in court.
Pointing out omissions and insufficiencies in the report submitted by chief secretary Anup Mukherjee, Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD on Tuesday dubbed the report “worthy of the dustbin” and said preparations were on to seek justice from the Patna high court. The Opposition parties are adamant on getting the CBI to probe the allotments of BIADA plots.
“The whole report is no more than the state government’s mouthpiece and shows how the top bureaucrat, who is due for retirement in a few months, acted like its chief editor, doing his masters’ bidding,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui at a press conference. “Recommendations for legal action on the media for highlighting the allegations and covering the news of this scam are reminiscent of Emergency-era restrictions on the free press,” Mr Siddiqui added.
Stressing that there was “unexplained alacrity” on part of BIADA in handing over industrial plots in several cases, Mr Siddiqui said Rahmat Fatima Amanullah, daughter of social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah and senior IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, whose application of May 24 for additional two acres of land was acted upon the same day and the desired plot was allotted to her the same day.
Maitreya Education Trust, in which education minister P.K. Shahi’s daughter Urvashi Shahi is identified as the managing trustee, applied for land on March 9 and BIADA finalised the case on March 16 and issued allotment order the next day, said Mr Siddiqui. Similarly, Chennai-based Nibhi Industries Pvt. Ltd., Mr Siddiqui pointed out, applied for land on August 24, 2009, and was allotted plots just four days later. The same firm was allotted more land in April 2011 just five days after applying “despite a Saturday and Sunday lying in between”. “Acquitting an accused merely on the basis of his denial of playing any role in the crime is a mockery of the probe process,” Mr Siddiqui said.